World Cup Thread.

SB39 said:

I'll defer to your greater knowledge on the matter. But still, that headbutt remains one of the dirtiest plays I can ever think of seeing.

Click to expand...

What did the Italian player say to Zidane? If it was as the reports say...I say you go Zidane! Great move!

Patsrock said:

While it was dirty. Zidane is one of the greats all time and the headbutt did not diminish that at all.

Click to expand...

Greatest player I've ever seen....

He was a magician with the ball.

Wheelman said:

What did the Italian player say to Zidane? If it was as the reports say...I say you go Zidane! Great move!

Click to expand...

I think Materrazi (who was a dirty, scumbag player) said something about ZZ sister.

If ZZ kept his composure, Italy doesn't win that WC.

Big day is here! US vs Belgium. What do we have for predictions?

SB39 said:

I'll defer to your greater knowledge on the matter. But still, that headbutt remains one of the dirtiest plays I can ever think of seeing.

Click to expand...

Dirty? No way! Stupid? In every way possible!

PP2 said:

High back line is the back of the 4-3-3 right?

Click to expand...

Yes. Germany played in a 4-3-3. 4 defense-men, 3 midfielders and 3 forwards. It's really a bit more complicated that that but in essence that was it. You could also say it was a 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-1-3 depending on how you want to look at it. The 4 defense-men (defensive line) played very high up the field, way from their box and closer really to the midfield line. This was because in order to break down a team that's keeping all 11 players inside their own half, and really not applying any pressure to regain the ball until you enter their half, you need to keep feeding your midfielders the ball so they can initiate the attack. If you play your defense back then the midfielders will have to come back a long way in order to retrieve the ball and that slows down your attack even more runs you mids raged and also leaves a lot of empty space in between that can be exploited. With the line playing high you can neutralize some counters with a good offside trap and those you can't you hope either you line is fast enough to track back or you have a sweeper keeper with balls of steel like Neuer.
BTW I love Neuer. My favorite player in the Mannchaft. 2 years ago in the UCL final against Chelsky he was one of the 5 that stepped up to take a penalty (and he buried his) when Roben (in the Mexico game I wasn't surprised he didn't have the balls to take the PK and asked Huntelaar to do it instead) didn't have the balls to take his.

Major ********** said:

BTW I love Neuer. My favorite player in the Mannchaft. 2 years ago in the UCL final against Chelsky he was one of the 5 that stepped up to take a penalty (and he buried his) when Roben (in the Mexico game I wasn't surprised he didn't have the balls to take the PK and asked Huntelaar to do it instead) didn't have the balls to take his.

Click to expand...

Not surprised. He seems to be a jack of all trades, like a swiss army knife. He was doing it all, and as I understand it, the number of times he left his box yesterday was just about unprecedented, 18 times or something to that effect.

And yes, balls of steels.. especially chasing down loose balls so far out.

Germany played so much better with Lahm at fullback and Khedira in at midfield. It doesn't make sense why Lowe is keen on playing Lahm at midfield.

Wheelman said:

Sorry for saying you blamed the ref. My bad. We'll just have to agree to disagree on the Mexico deserved better. That Mexican defender shouldn't have put his foot near a known offender with so many Mexican players right there to back him up. They played prevent defense. Mexico got what they deserved.

The team that wins always outplays the losing team. I mean..they won, didn't they?

I don't it's fair to put more importance on a play that happens near stoppage time than in the first 3/4 of the game. That goes for any sport. It should be consistent.

Click to expand...

They don't call soccer a cruel game for nothing, like hockey the team that wins the balance of play doesn't always win the game, but that's the way it goes. The winner moves on and that's all that matters when all is said and done. And FTR I am not syaing the ref should put away the whistle in stoppage but they really need to be sure they have it right to give a PK with seconds remaining. That was no foul and I wouldn't give that ref a WC assignment again.

Let's go USA!

JackBauer said:

Let's go USA!

Click to expand...

Yep, I actually expect their best effort today and the decision on how to use Altidore is going to be really interesting, if they use him early they risk having to sub early and if they hold him out until the end they will have to hold out a sub if he goes down. I'm obviously hoping for a USA win but Belgium may have too much for them, Howard is probably going to have to play a great game to get them through. I think Dempsey will bag one because he almost always does in their biggest matches. If they get through today then they will have done pretty much all they can for this WC, at least imo.

Ivan said:

Yep, I actually expect their best effort today and the decision on how to use Altidore is going to be really interesting, if they use him early they risk having to sub early and if they hold him out until the end they will have to hold out a sub if he goes down. I'm obviously hoping for a USA win but Belgium may have too much for them, Howard is probably going to have to play a great game to get them through. I think Dempsey will bag one because he almost always does in their biggest matches. If they get through today then they will have done pretty much all they can for this WC, at least imo.

Click to expand...

Agreed. Aside from the Altidore mystery/drama, I'm hoping today is the day Bradley decides to finally don his big boy pants (shorts?) and starts playing like he's capable of playing.

JackBauer said:

Agreed. Aside from the Altidore mystery/drama, I'm hoping today is the day Bradley decides to finally don his big boy pants (shorts?) and starts playing like he's capable of playing.

Click to expand...

I agree completely, Bradley has had a bad WC and he needs to step up and help them keep up in the possession battle, they cannot allow Belgium to control play and tempo and rely completely upon Howard. The US can win this game but guys like Jones, Bradley and Fabian Johnson need to have really good games, and they should keep Gonzalez on the back line and Cameron on the bench, Gonzalez was huge in that Germany game and they need that from him again today.

And while I am not sure he is ready for the big time I love the speed Yedlin brings to that line-up when they bring him in late, I would like to see more of him because he brings some serious speed to their counters. Overall i think Klinsmann did a good job selecting this team and while Dempsey is most likely seeing his last WC and Beasely definitely is they have a good young core to build around for the future.

SB39 said:

I'll defer to your greater knowledge on the matter. But still, that headbutt remains one of the dirtiest plays I can ever think of seeing.

Click to expand...

It was totally dirty, I agree. I'm sure the Italian guy deserved it though. It would be kinda like if Tom Brady just hauled off and wrecked a guy. You would be shocked, you would agree that it was uncalled for, and, knowing Brady's history, you'd be pretty sure that something really messed up had happened.

Wheelman said:

What did the Italian player say to Zidane? If it was as the reports say...I say you go Zidane! Great move!

Click to expand...

I am pretty sure he called Zidane's sister a whore.

So Cameroon players being investigated for fixing games. In soccer? No way!

Ottmar Hitzfeld, coaching genius.

Aside from Messi Argentina has really been unimpressive in this WC. If this continues they have very little shot of winning this World Cup.

JackBauer said:

Let's go USA!

Click to expand...

#ibelievethatwewillwin

Looking forward to this game